The first album you bought: on vinyl, on cassette, on CD, all digital

[Interrobang!?]

Vinyl: Air Supply's Greatest Hits
Cassette: the Moody Blues' In Search of the Lost Chord and On the Threshold of a Dream (tie)
CD: The Beatles' Past Masters Vol. 1
Digital: The Go! Team's Thunder, Lightning, Strike, via iTunes

I haven't bothered getting the Air Supply or Moody Blues albums on any other media.

[da_pope]

First vinyl single: Blue Oyster Cult, Don't Fear the Reaper (yes, more cowbell)

First vinyl album: Kiss, Rock and Roll Over

First cassette: I bought 2 from Sears when I got my first fake walkman (a sanyo),
Neil Young, Rust Never Sleeps
Black Sabbath Sold our Souls for Rock and Roll

First CD: The Cars

First all digital? Like the first downloaded? No idea.

[dwc1970]

Vinyl: Quiet Riot, "Mental Health", circa 1983
Cassette: Rush, "Exit Stage Left", also circa 1983
CD: Cinderella, "Night Songs", 1986
First "digital" (i.e. download): don't remember, would have to check file dates for earliest MP3 track and I'm too lazy to do this right now.

[ultrafilter]

I've never bought an album on vinyl or digital.

For cassette, it's a tie between Metallica's self-titled album and Nevermind.

For CD, I don't remember. Very likely Jagged Little Pill.

[fishbicycle]

Oh, man, that was twelve thousand records ago! Lemme see...

Single: The Rooftop Singers - Walk Right In (1963)
Album: no idea, probably one of the Beatles albums
Cassette: I only ever bought two prerecorded tapes. First was Pink Floyd - The Wall
CD: The Beatles - either Not For Sale, or Something To Hide (bootlegs, and I had them for 4 years before I had something to play them on)
Digital: none

[silenus]

LP: The Doors
Cassette: I've never bought a prerecorded cassette, except for a class
CD: A Momentary Lapse Of Reason - Pink Floyd
I don't do digital.

[soulmurk]

Vinyl: Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry

Cassette: Metallica - $5.98 Garage Days Re-revisited

CD: Guns 'N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction

Digital: n/a

[Zoe]

1. First vinyl: A recording of "Rhapsody in Blue" in about 1957

2. First CD was Digital: A recording of "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris"

I had never realized the coincidence until this thread.

[DoctorJ]

Vinyl: Michael Jackson, Thriller
Cassette: Whitney Houston's self-titled album (I was ten, OK?)
CD: Tom Petty, Full Moon Fever
Digital: Probably one of the Live Phish releases

[ddgryphon]

Vinyl: bought at the same time: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and a two record collection of Big Band Hits (Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Dorseys, Glenn Miller, Cab Calloway and many others)

Cassette: I believe it was Harvest by Neil Young, though it could have been Mudslide Slim by James Taylor -- I forget.

CD- I'll use the first one I bought for ME, because I bought a few for my daughter that I just don't feel a need to share. My first I believe was 10 Summoner's Tales by Sting or Hank Williams Greatest Hits, I'm pretty fuzzy on this.

First legal Download (Which I've converted to for some time now): A roots/reggae version of "Hotel California" by a band called The Moonrakers

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Vinyl: Elton John's Greatest Hits
CD: The Police - Synchronicity

[Annie-Xmas]

Single: Love Me Do--The Beatles

Album--V.J. Presents the Beatles. With the gatefold cover. I wish I'd kept it, that sucker is worth something now. I think I paid $2 for it.

Cassette--Springsteen's boxed set.

CD--Leonard Cohen's Recent Songs.

[Kalhoun]

Originally Posted by fishbicycle

Oh, man, that was twelve thousand records ago! Lemme see...

Single: The Rooftop Singers - Walk Right In (1963)

That is simply precious!

[Kalhoun]

I didn't purchase it...it was a gift from the parental units: "Meet the Beatles"
Purchased by me: I got You Babe - Sonny & Cher
Never purchased an 8-track or cassette
CD: Hmmm...I think it was either Pink Floyd or The Beatles. But shortly thereafter we just started replacing all our vinyl.

[RealityChuck]

Vinyl Single: Sweet Pea by Tommy Roe (God knows why)
Vinyl Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (in monaural -- I didn't have a stereo)
Cassette: Might have been "The Allman Brothers Band Live at Ludlow Garage*"
CD: Don't recall. Possibly "High Energy" by James Cotton
Electronic: "Rosalita" by Bruce Springsteen via iTunes

*The CD/tape came out in 1990, but I remembered it well from my days in college in the 70s. My roommate worked at Ludlow Garage and had a tape of it.

[Crotalus]

First vinyl single: She Loves You, late 1963
First vinyl album: Meet The Beatles, right after Christmas , 1963
First 8-track, Woodstock, whenever that was released, 1970, maybe?
First cassette, Shoot Out The Lights, Richard and Linda Thompson
First CD, Document, REM

[Ichbin Dubist]

Single: for some reason I think this is "The Streak" by Ray Stevens, but I can't be sure. I was 9 years old.

Album: The Beatles' 1967-1970.

Cassette: a Youssou N'Dour record I bought on a trip to Senegal, never released here (can't recall its name). I went from LP to CD, never picked up more than a handful of premade cassettes.

Eight-track: I once bought a box of 8-tracks at a flea market; a roommate at the time had a player in his car. The only one I remember was Talking Heads' More Songs About Buildings and Food, which they should have retitled More Songs About Food and Buildings because all the songs were in a different order than the LP.

CD: The Clash, London Calling and the Beatles, Rubber Soul, bought at the same time. Had to start somewhere.

Download: Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

[Revtim]

Vinyl: J Geils Band - Freeze Frame
Cassette: Either 'Best of Blue Oyster Cult' or 'Best Of Steppenwolf'
CD: U2 - Achtung Baby
Download: Only one so far - Kelley Deal 2000, don't recall which album

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

LP: Simon & Garfunkel, Sounds of Silence

45: Beatles, "Hey Jude"

Cassette: McDonald and Giles

CD: King Crimson, Discipline and Marillion, Fugazi

Download: Stereolab, Margerine Eclipse (That's my first full album purchased as a download. The first track purchased via download was Art Blakey doing "A Night in Tunisia." I have no idea what the first track I ever obtained via download was; most likely someone's privately recorded music posted on the old mp3.com.)

[What Exit?]

45: Snoopy and the Red Baron's Christmas, I was 5.
Vinyl: Obscured by Clouds because it was one of the only Pink Floyd Album's I could not borrow from my older brother. I was about 12.
8-Track: Animals by Pink Floyd. I was about 14.
Cassette: The Worst of Jefferson Airplane (I was at Navy A School)
CD: Yes Songs 2bl live CD. Awesome (Bought 1st CD Player Boom Box around 1986 in Hong Kong and a few CD's to listen to. Yes Songs was the first I picked out. I love the music and the CD was only $16 US when it was still $30 back in USA.

Jim

[chrisk]

Umm... can't remember having ever bought anything on vinyl.

Cassette -- some kind of christian rock, probably Petra.

CD -- Blackhawk's "Love and gravity"

All-digital: Think this was a tie between corrs "talk on corners" and leahy "lakefield"

[MovieMogul]

Vinyl: Remain in Light, Talking Heads
Cassette: Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits
CD: Chariots of Fire, Vangelis
All digital: None

[koeeoaddi]

78- Tumbling Tumbleweeds - Gene Aurtry
45 - I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles
33.3 - Meet the Beatles
8 Track - Wee Tam - The Incredible String Band
Cassette - Workingman's Dead - The Grateful Dead
CD - The Lady and the Unicorn - John Renbourn

[Hostile Dialect]

Cassette: The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
CD: Rage Against the Machine - Battle of Los Angeles & Green Day - Dookie (tie)
Digital: N/A, I've never spent money on that, nor do I have an iPod.

[lightingtool]

Vinyl: Johnny Cash 'Live from San Quinten'
Tape: Guns and Roses 'Appetite For Destruction'
CD: Black Crows 'Shake your Money Maker'
Digital: Ween 'The Mollusk' (to replace a cd I broke)

[The Chao Goes Mu]

LP- Queen, The Game

45- Alice Cooper, How You Gonna See Me Now

Cassette- Bauhaus, Burning From the Inside & Fugazi (I think)

CD- Depeche Mode (I don't remember which album since I bought a ton of CD's as soon as I got a CD player.

Digital - None yet.

[Thudlow Boink]

Vinyl: I owned lots of records as a kid, but by the time I was buying my own music, I had entered the cassette era, and the only LPs I bought were those that were either much cheaper or much easier to find on vinyl than on cassette, and I don't remember which one was the first. The first grown-up album I owned (given as a gift) was, IIRC, Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits.

Cassettes: Synchronicity (by The Police)

CD's: I got my first CD player for Christmas (1991), along with a few CD's I had asked for, including All Things Must Pass (by George Harrison), Seventh Sojourn (by The Moody Blues), There Goes Rhymin' Simon (by Paul Simon), and Smiley Smile/Wild Honey (by the Beach Boys). The first CD's I bought for myself were Daniel Amos and a few classical CD's by Handel, Vivaldi, and Saint-Saens.

All digital: CD's are all digital, aren't they? Oh, you mean like a download? None; I'm still buying my music the old-fashioned way.

So how come the OP didn't say anything about 8-track tapes?

[ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness]

Vinyl 45 The Kinks Father Christmas
Vinyl LP The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack
8 Track n/a There was an 8 track player on the hand-me-down quad system my brother-in-law gave me, but 8 track was long dead by then (c. 1986)
Cassette The Kinks State of Confusion
CD Elastica's self-titled debut
Legally downloaded track for free The Queers Punk Rock Girls
Illegally downloaded track for free Believe or not, haven't done it.
Purchased download haven't done it yet

[Miller]

I've never owned a vinyl record. Unless you count the vinyl insert from the Bloom County collection, Billy and the Boingers.

My first cassette was, I believe, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash by The Pogues.

My first CD was Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark.

The first entire album I ever purchased digitally was Marcy Playground's third album, coincidentally titled MP3.

[phungi]

Vinyl 45: Beatles: not sure which song, likely Hey Jude...
Vinyl: Partridge Family Album (it's true)
Cassette: AM/FM George Carlin (my parents wouldn't let me have Class Clown)
CD: Steely Dan: Aja
Digital: Not sure: either Howard Stern Sound bytes or Dr. Demento songs off Napster.

[ddgryphon]

Originally Posted by ddgryphon

Vinyl: bought at the same time: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and a two record collection of Big Band Hits (Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Dorseys, Glenn Miller, Cab Calloway and many others)

Cassette: I believe it was Harvest by Neil Young, though it could have been Mudslide Slim by James Taylor -- I forget.

CD- I'll use the first one I bought for ME, because I bought a few for my daughter that I just don't feel a need to share. My first I believe was 10 Summoner's Tales by Sting or Hank Williams Greatest Hits, I'm pretty fuzzy on this.

First legal Download (Which I've converted to for some time now): A roots/reggae version of "Hotel California" by a band called The Moonrakers

Okay there have been revisions to the rules:

First single: A yellow 78 RPM -- proudly bought with me birfday money of the QuickDraw McGraw Theme song with a B-side featuring Baba Looey

8-track--triple purchase: Little Criminals - Randy Newman; Meet the Roaches (Only Maggie and Terry on that one); Renaisance -- can't remember the title.

[DfrntBreign]

I don't remember buying a first 45 (although I did).
Vinyl: Carpenters - Close To You (to learn a song for my first gig.) (Really)
First I bought for me was Three Dog Night - Naturally (A lot better, hunh)
8 Track: Leon Russell - Leon Live Really pissed my dad off when I told him I admired this guy (on the cover) because he is from Oklahoma, like me!
Cassette: Santana - Abraxas changed my life. The first cassette I bought was Johnny Winter - Saints and Sinners
CD: What does it say that I can distinctly remember all of the above but can't remember the first CD I ever bought? I think it was Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
Legal Digital Album(sic): Colonel Claypool's Bucket Of Bernie's Brains - The Big Eyeball in the Sky

[tanstaafl]

Vinyl - Band on the Run - Paul McCartny & Wings
Cassette - Works - Emerson, Lake and Palmer
CD - Tales of Mystery and Imagination - The Alan Parsons Project
Digital - Haven't bought a complete album, but my first digital purchase was Honeysuckle Blue by Drivin' 'n Cryin'

[Sampiro]

God, I am so gay.


VINYL: The Sound of Music (Mary Martin/Theodore Bikel Broadway recording)
CASSETTE: Yentl
CD: Miss Saigon and Songs from the Civil War (same time)
DIGITALl: Nothing yet, but when NAPSTER was legal I think my first download was Sting's Desert Rose.

[Danalan]

These are all the first I spent money on, not necessarily the first I owned.

First vinyl: American Pie - Don Mclean

First 8-track: Gary Puckett and the Union Gap Featuring Young Girl - Gary Puckett & the Union Gap

First Cassette: Van Halen - Van Halen

First CD: Nilsson, Schmilsson -- Harry Nilsson

First Digital: I haven't purchased any yet.

[AuntiePam]

How do you guys remember that?

I remember the first 45, and that's only because I didn't have anything to play it on, but I loved the song -- Only the Lonely by Roy Orbison.

I borrowed the neighbor boy's portable record player to play it.

Can't remember any of the rest. You guys are amazing!

[ouryL]

Vinyl: Sugar Town by Nancy Sinatra
Cassette: Abbey Road by the Beatles
CD: Into the Gap by Thompson Twins

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by AuntiePam

How do you guys remember that?

I remember the first 45, and that's only because I didn't have anything to play it on, but I loved the song -- Only the Lonely by Roy Orbison.

I borrowed the neighbor boy's portable record player to play it.

Can't remember any of the rest. You guys are amazing!

These were semi-important moments. I was always listening to my older Brother's and Sister's music. So starting to buy mine own was important in growing up. I was proud I was the first in the family to start a CD collection. Kind of silly I know, but important to a young man growing up.

Jim

[Kilvert's Pagan]

Vinyl single: a 4-track Beatles single which included a cover of Roll Over Beethoven. I wish I still had it.

Vinyl Album: I think it was Guess Who's Greatest Hits

8-track: ELP, Tarkus

Cassette: beats me - cassettes were a way to make albums last longer, or to listen to them in the car

CD: Heavy Weather, Weather Report. I bought this CD so I could use it to pick out a CD player... Birdland is a great test piece.

Downloads: free: Adrian Belew's lost "lyrical" version of "I have a Dream", which didn't make the cut on King Crimson's CD The Construkction of Light.

Downloads: paid: none.

[jsc1953]

Chronologically...

Vinyl 45: The Byrds, Eight Miles High
Vinyl LP: I think it was Beatles, Revolver. Might've been The Doors, Strange Days...Jeez, that was 40 years ago...
Cassette: Chicago II (with 25 or 6 to 4, Make Me Smile)
CD: Dunno. Joined a CD of the Month club, and got a batch on the same day. Most of it junk.
Digital Download (Napster)....hmmm...going with Dexy's Midnight Runners, Come on Eileen

[samclem]

vinyl album--Kingston Trio, 1959 I think.

What are these things people keep talking about---CD's, etc?

[Mister Rik]

First 45: Music Box Dancer by Frank Mills (stop laughing at me!)
First vinyl LP: Hi Infidelity by REO Speedwagon
First cassette: It was either Balls to the Wall by Accept or Love at First Sting by The Scorpions
First CD: Big House by Big House

[drewbert]

Vinyl: Never purchased one with my own money, but my dad gave me Spike Jones' Greatest Hits, vol. 1 and 2, which I played incessantly through my early years. At my request, dad also got me (to my great embarassment here today) an (the?) album by Taco - can't remember the name, but it's the one with Puttin' on the Ritz. Heh. That completes my entire vinyl collection, in fact.

Cassette, with my own money: also a pair, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars by Edie Brickell, and Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty. Bought them from one of those school fund-raising schemes.

CD: Eponymous by R.E.M.

Digital track: Step Right Up by Tom Waits

Digital album: Uh, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars. Again. Hey, I like it, and I only had it on cassette!

[pokey]

My first vinyl was Pat Benetar's Crimes of Passion. My mother made me take it back to K-Mart. God what an overzealous Tipper Gore she was. The first one I got to keep was The Game by Queen.

My first tape was Motley Crue's Shout at the Devil.

My first CD was Introduce Yourself by Faith No More

The first thing I ever downloaded and paid for on Itunes was Where are You by Frank Sinatra.

[5 time champ]

First 45: Manhattan Spiritual- Reg Owen & Orchestra
First 45, purchased with own money: Snoopy vs The Red Baron-The Royal Guardsmen
First LP: Soundtrack from The Graduate- Simon & Garfunkel
First Cassette: Frampton Comes Alive
First 8-track: Tormato- Yes
First CD: Revolver- The Beatles
First digital d/l: Loan Me a Dime- Boz Scaggs
First digital d/l album: Chicago V

[BMax]

1st Vinyl i purchased for myself with my own money was an album: Billy Joel: The Stranger for my 14th birthday.

I know I owned a few vinyl singles, but I honestly don't remember what the first one was.

1st cassette purchased was probably Devo Freedom of Choice or Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti

1st CD I ever purchased was Antonin Dvorak's 9th symphony.

I have never actually purchased a download.

[Little Nemo]

Single - I think it was Snoopy vs the Red Baron when I was a kid
Album - Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
Eight Track (okay, now I'm really dating myself) - Wings - Greatest Hits
CD - The Residents - don't remember which one

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Vinyl: Kiss Alive 2

Cassette (bought 3 at once...new Walkman): Ted Nugent Cat Scratch Fever, Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Oz, Black Sabbath Heaven and Hell.

CD: Metallica Master of Puppets

Digital: I don't even know what that is.

[zoogirl]

45 - Bought for me - "Walk Right in" by The Rooftop Singers (Hi Fishbicycle! Didn't we do this before?! )
Bought by me - "Leaving On A Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul and Mary
33 - a record of songs about Robin Hood, with whom I was obsessed. I was about seven.
Cassette - not sure, but probably "News Of The World" by Queen
8 Track - don't remember - maybe a Don Williams tape that I mostly got for my hubby.
CD - "Dirty Diamonds" by Alice Cooper. Okay, so I'm a little slow on technology. Finally got a CD player...
Download - nope. See above.

[John Carter of Mars]

Vinyl 45 rpm: "Speedo" by The Cadillacs
Vinyl LP: Elvis's first album, titled simply, "Elvis Presley"
Cassette: "Best of Kitty Wells"
CD: "The Shirelles Greatest Hits"
Download: Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful"